Laundry machine



SC- i2 i957 J. P. cHENDx-:RLIN 3,357,24

LAUNDRY MACHINE Filed June 14, 1966 2 Sheecs-Shee. 2

FIGLB FICEA- /A/ VEN TOR JOHN P. CHE /VDERL//V United States Patent This invention relates to laundry machines and more particularly to washer-extractors having improvements therein for facilitating the loading and unloading of clothes into and from the washer drum. The invention pert-ains particularly to such laundry machines having the washer drum journaled on a horizontal axis and provided with a diametrical partition wall wh-ich divides the drum into two equal compartments.

An object of the invention is to provide improved laundry machines which permit easy loading of either compartment when the drum is rotationally adjusted so that the compartment is in a lower position and an unloading of either compartment when the drum is rotationally adjusted so that the compartment is in an upper position.

Another object is to provide such improved laundry machine in which both loading below the partition wall and unloading above the partition wall are via a single side door opening -in the exterior casing.

Another object is to provide such improved laundry machine in which each compartment of the drum has two peripheral doors at opposite sides thereof and the external casing has a side door opening with which the respective peripheral doors will register when they are approximately halfway above and below a horizontal plane through the drum axis whereby unloading of the upper compartment is permitted when the partition wall is downwardly inclined relative to the side door opening and loading of the lower compartment is permitted when the partition wall is upwardly inclined relative to the side door opening.

A further object is to provide such laundry machine in which the side door opening is further openable in an upward direction to permit unloading of the upper compartment when the partition wall is substantially level as well as to permit hopper loading of the lower compartment in a more downwardly inclined direction when a peripheral door of the compartment is in regist-ration with the upper portion of the side door opening.

These and other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.

In a description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIGURE l is a front elevational view of a washerextractor embodying the invention, showing the side door opening of the external casing in fully open position;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURES 3 to 6 are sketches showing the positioning of the drum relative to the side door opening for loading and unloading the two compartments when a respective peripheral door of the drum is about halfway above and below the level of the axis of the drum; and

FIGURES 7 and v8 are sketches showing hopper load-ing of the respective compartments in a more downwardly inclined direction via an upper portion of the side door opening in the casing.

The present laundry machine comprises two s-ide frame plates 10 and 11 bridged at the top by a horizontal plate 12. Between the side frame plates there is a cylindrical casing 13 welded liquid-tight at its edges to the inside walls of the side plates. Thus, the casing 13 forms a cylindrical space closed at the ends by the side plates.

Welded to the central portions of the outer walls of the 3,357,2l4 Patented Dec. 12, 1967 ice side plates 10 and 11 are respective shelves 14 and 15 supported by downwardly extending braces 14 and 15'. Mounted on these shelves 'are respective bearings 16 and 17 in axial alignment with the cylindrical casin-g 13. I ournaled in these bearings are stub shafts 1S and 19 of a cylindrical washer-drum 20 supported concentrically Within the casing 13 in spaced relation thereto. This is a washer-drum of a Welded construction comprising 1a cylindrical Wall 21 of perforated metal welded at the edges to rim ilanges 22 of circular end plates 23. Welded to the center portions of the end plates are hubs 18 and 19 of the respective stub shafts. A diametrical partition wall 24 welded in place to the end plates 23 and perforated cylindrical wall 21 divides the drum into two equal compartments A and B.

The washer drum 20 is driven by a motor 25 mounted on the top plate 12. The motor has a drive pulley 26 overhanging the right side ofthe machine, which is coupled by a belt 27 to a pulley 28 on the stub shaft 19. The belt is trained around an idler pulley 29 at the back of the machine, which is adjustably mounted so that the belt can be placed under the right tension.

The exterior casing 13- has 'a side opening 30 at the front of the machine shown in FIGURE 1 in open position. This opening extends a short distance below the level of the drum axis and perferably about twice this distance above this level. The opening is closable by an arcuate door 31 mounted slidably at its sides in track 32 secured to the casing. The door is connected at its upper end to a chain or cord 33 which unwinds from a small drum 34 journaled in a mounting bracket 35.\The drum 34 is torsionally biased (by means not shown) so that the cord exerts a suicient pull on the door to counteract lits weight Iand to hold the door open when it is in a raised position. A handle 35 on the lower portion of the door permits the door to be swung downwardly into a closed position whereat it is suitably latched by means not herein shown.

A feature of the present invention resides in providing each compartment A and B with a pair of peripheral doors designating by the numbers 37 and 38 with the sutlix letters of the respective compartments. The two peripheral doors of each compartment are at the opposite sides thereof leading from the opposite ends of the partition wall 24. These are rectangular doors of a fabricated construction having inner and outer walls of perforated metal. Welded to the inside walls of the drum and to the opposite ends of the partition wall 24 are moldings 39 which form rectangular frames surrounding the respective peripheral doors. The peripheral doors are hinged at the left ends as at 40 so that they can be swung laterally outwardly into open positions when they are in registration with the side opening 30 of the casing. The peripheral doors are latched closed by shifting the doors longitudinally by a handle bar 41 to engage the front edge with the underside of the frame as in the manner described in the pending Files application Serial No. 400,385, filed September 30, 1964, now Patent No. 3,311,241, dated March 28, 1967.

The loading and unloading technique of the compartments A and B by the present invention is illustrated in FIGURES 3 to 6. In these gures the loading or unloading door 37 or 3S, as the case may be, is in registration with the lower portion of the side door opening 30 when it is approximately halfway above and below the level of the journal axis of the drum.

When the peripheral door 37A is in registration with the lower portion of the side door opening 30 the partition 24 is downwardly inclined towards the side opening for easy unloading of the upper compartment A as shown in FIGURE 3. Similarly, when the door 38B is in registration with the side door opening 30 the parti tion wall 24 is again downwardly inclined towards the side door opening for easy unloading of the compartment B as shown in FIGURE 4. When the door 37B is in registration with the lower portion of the side door opening 36 the partition wall 24 is upwardly inclined relative to the side door opening to permit easy loading of the lower compartment B as shown in FIGURE 5. Similarly, when the door 38A is in registration with the lower portion of the side door opening 3G the partition wall 24 is again upwardly inclined relative to the side door opening to permit easy loading of the lower compartment A as shown in FIGURE 6.

When the peripheral door 37B is in registration with the upper portion of the side door opening 30, as shown in FIGURE 7 the partition wall 24 stands in a more upwardly inclined position relative to the side door opening to enable the lower compartment B to be loaded as from a hopper 43 in a more downwardly inclined direction. Similarly, .when the door 38A is in registration with the upper portion of the side door opening 30 as shown in FIGURE 8, the partition Wall 24 again stands in a more upwardly inclined position relative to the side door opening to enable the lower compartment A to be loaded as from the hopper 43 in a more downwardly inclined direction. Preferably, for easy hopper loading as here described, the side door opening 30 has a height equal approximately to the height of the two adjacent peripheral doors 37 and 38 of the two compartments A and B.

The use of a side door opening 30 of extended height as just described, also permits the upper compartments to be unloaded, or even loaded, while the partition 24 is in a horizontal position and the respective peripheral door is in registration with an upper portion of the side door opening. In these instances the partition wall 24 would be in the dotted line position shown in FIGURES 7 and 8.

The embodiment of my invention herein particularly shown and described is intended to be illustrative and not necessarily limitative of my invention since the same is subject to changes and modifications without departure from the scope of my invention, which I endeavor to express according to the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a laundry machine: the combination of an external casing, a work-treating drum in said casing mounted for rotation on a horizontal axis, a diametrical partition wall in said drum dividing the drum into two equal compartments, a pair of peripheral doors on said drum for each of said compartments positioned at opposite sides of the compartment, and a single side door on said external casing to provide unloading egress from the upper one of the compartments when a peripheral door thereof is in registration with said side door opening and to provide loading access to the lower one of said compartments when a peripheral door thereof is in registration with said side door opening.

2. The laundry machine set forth in claim 1 wherein said side door opening in the external casing has at least a portion above the level of the axis of the drum to provide loading access to the lower one of said compartments when the drum is positioned so that the partition wall is upwardly inclined relative to the side door opening.

3. The laundry machine set forth in claim 1 wherein said side door opening in the external casing has at least a portion extending below the level of the drum axis to provide unloading egress from the upper one of said compartments via the lower door of the compartment when the drum is rotationally adjusted so that the partition wall is downwardly inclined relative to the side door opening.

4. The dry cleaning machine set forth in claim 1 wherein said external casing has a single side door of a height equal approximately to the peripheral length of the adjacent peripheral doors of said two compartments at each side of said drum.

5. In a laundry machine: the combination of a horizontal external cylindrical casing, a washer drum in said casing journaled for rotation about the horizontal axis of said casing, a xed diametrical partition wall in said drum dividing the space in the drum into two equal compartments, a pair of peripheral doors on said drum for each of said compartments located at opposite sides of the compartment, and a single door on said casing openable to expose each peripheral door on said drum when the door is about halfway above and below a horizontal plane through said rotational axis whereby the opening of a peripheral door of the drum at said side opening when said partition wall is in an upwardly inclined position permits loading of the lower compartment of the drum and the opening of a peripheral door of the drum at said side opening when said partition wall is in a downwardly inclined position permits unloading of the upper compartment of the drum.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 856,036 3/1940 France. 1,078,620 5/ 1954 France.

213,196 3/1924 Great Britain.

418,474 10/ 1934 Great Britain.

WILLIAM I. PRICE, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A LAUNDRY MACHINE: THE COMBINATION OF AN EXTERNAL CASING, A WORK-TREATING DRUM IN SAID CASING MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ON A HORIZONTAL AXIS, A DIAMETRICAL PARTITION WALL IN SAID DRUM DIVIDING THE DRUM INTO TWO EQUAL COMPARTMENTS, A PAIR OF PERIPHERAL DOORS ON SAID DRUM FOR EACH OF SAID COMPARTMENTS POSITIONED AT OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE COMPARTMENT, AND A SINGLE SIDE DOOR ON SAID EXTERNAL CASING TO PROVIDE UNLOADING EGRESS FROM THE UPPER ONE OF THE COMPARTMENTS WHEN A PERIPHERAL DOOR THEREOF IS IN REGISTRATION WITH SAID DOOR OPENING AND TO PROVIDE LOADING ACCESS TO THE LOWER ONE OF SAID COMPARTMENTS WHEN A PERIPHERAL DOOR THEREOF IS IN REGISTRATION WITH SAID SIDE DOOR OPENING. 